It had already been a few days since the memorable date between Kyle and Tohru took place; and their relationship had taken another step forward. They had become more intimate with each other, completely acting like a sweet couple made for each other, who were totally and incomparably in love with each other. Kobayashi San even suspected that they had already started going out with each other, effectively changing their status from single to a couple, they weren't however. Both of them ignored Kobayashi San's growing accusations stating that they were still single, but also mentioned to her that they were considering it.

Even after knowing all that, Kobayashi San was still suspicious. Well in her defence, Kyle and Tohru were acting exactly like couples did to think of otherwise, they were flirting and laughing together, having slight banter and getting a bit touchy feely with each other exactly like real couples did, it escalated so much that it was downright disgusting. In actuality however, Kobayashi San was jealous, this couplish behavior was too much to take in for a single dog like her. In the end, to distract herself from her loneliness and those damn normies, she decided she would drink so much today that she would go into a drunk induced coma, she really was on her last dregs of sanity because of Kyle and Tohru.

Meanwhile the cute draconic lolita was the same as ever, she didn't care about the change, for her Tohru was still Tohru and Kyle was still Kyle, nothing changed. They were still her family that she loved dearly, albeit some more than others. Her mentality hadn't developed yet to understand about love, so to her this change meant nothing as the person's themselves didn't change and still loved her like they did before.

In the future she would eventually understand the significance of love, that was a story for said future.

---

As usual Kyle went to school, the lessons were repetitive these days, it was totally normal since the instructors were just reviewing the materials for the first semester exam.

There was however a slight change to his usual school life, the usually, mostly, silent Kyōka was actively trying to talk to him, always starting a conversation whenever she had the chance to, Kyle didn't see any harm in just talking with her, she was interesting to have a casual talk with, so he joined the conversation. Kyōka was surprisingly a talkative person and had many interesting topics to talk about, they would often talk for half an hour at a stretch, the talks were never boring when it was done with her. He found out that Kyōka didn't talk much simply because she wasn't interested to do so; a simple but logical reason.

This however was truly unusual, normally she shouldn't be acting like this. Kyle was unfortunately a dense individual, it wasn't to the point that he could be comparable to a legendary being like Ichika but he still could be considered as dense, when it came to relationships. But he wasn't dense enough to not notice the slight hints Kyōka was dropping for him in those conversations, mostly he noticed because Kyōka wanted him to, he realized that fact; it was relationship related hints. It wasn't that hard to figure out that she was interested in him in a romantic light and that she wanted to know about his relationship status, of course he tried to actively dodge it but occasionally some slips did occur.

So at one point he informed her that he was not in a relationship at the moment, but he also added that he was seeing someone and was interested in her, i.e. Tohru. He was hoping that this would dissuade her interest in him, the reality however was, as always, something he didn't expect. Kyōka for one didn't care as long as he wasn't in an immediate relationship and was still very much interested in him, moreover it seemed that she became even more invested after hearing about his interest in another girl.

Kyle also perceived that he couldn't see Meru anywhere in school, he had also searched for her only to find out that she had been skipping school, he tried to text her on Line only to figure out that he was avoiding her, as he could see that even after being active she was ignoring his messages.

This made him come to the conclusion that his suspicions had been indeed right. 'Meru likes me, huh? Whatever reason does she even have to fall in love with an average sod like me? It shouldn't be at that time right? When I broke her undefeated record in games? If it is, man it's stupid. No, no, I don't believe she will be stupid enough to fall for me for just beating her in a game. That would simply be retarded!'

Nevertheless, however much he pondered he had no other valid or justifiable reason for her to fall for him. He wouldn't really know if he didn't confront her. So he decided that he would visit her tonight after the conclusion of his shift and make everything clear between them.

"Heh, if she wanted to avoid me she should have thought better, I mean she even gave me a key card to her apartment. Man, I didn't think I'd ever use this.. welp, whatever. I'll use it to visit her tonight."

If you ask why was he so sure that Meru was currently in her apartment and not somewhere else? It was simple, to a gamer their homes were their haven and to a gamer on the level of Meru, heh.. it would be a joke for her to not be there.

---

The period concluded, it was the last one and the school for today had concluded with it. As usual he rapidly approached the exit to his classroom, outside the door however a very familiar origin of his annoyance was yet again blocking his door making him frown tiredly. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to see you!"

"Nope, not happening, go back."

"Please! I'm asking you once again please accept me as your disciple!"

"No, is no can't you understand the meaning of that simple word?"

It was Ayane, she had been pestering him for a few days now, pleading for him to become her master. Kyle wasn't a samaritan to help her willingly, moreover he didn't have the time to do so either; in between schools and shifts, his schedule was jam packed every day and he didn't want to go out of his way to make time for her, why would he? She wasn't someone important to him, she was more like an everyday nuisance.

And the most achingly annoying fact was that this nuisance was vehemently stubborn. "Please, I'm begging you master!"

".....Sigh* oh gosh… you're so stubborn… fine."

Ayane smiled brightly as she heard his answer. "Really?! Then-"

"Wait, I didn't say that you would immediately become my disciple. First you have to pass my test, if you can't pass it then forget it."

"No, please! Tell me what it is and I will definitely pass your test!" She answered with relentless zeal and obstinance.

He smiled cunningly at her as he heard her answer, he replied sternly. "Then, starting from now you have to do 100,000 push ups without stopping if you can't do it then-"

"No I'll definitely do it! But can I do it in a specific place? Because I don't want to do it in a random location"

He nodded. "Sure go on."

"Then! I'll be sure to pass your test and become your disciple, see you master!" Ayane left him and went somewhere unknown, only she herself knew where she was going.

After getting rid of her, Kyle nodded in satisfaction. "Now, she wouldn't bother me for a while, 100,000 push ups? Hah! There is no way she could complete it without stopping, she will surely give up mid-way."

Shaking his head, smiling menacingly at his mischief, he left his school and started for his shift, to be honest it was now his hobby, he was rich enough to even buy the whole MgRonald's brand at this point so he had no need to work shifts there to earn money.

He went straight to the MgRonald's, after arriving he changed clothes and started his shift which ended after he made around a dozen and a half rounds of deliveries, he got off early to go to his destination.

Kyle left the shop after wishing goodbye to Chiho and Sadao, done with the greetings, without any hesitation he went straight for Meru's apartment, he needed to confront her as early as possible.

---

It only took him a few minutes to arrive at Meru's apartment complex, it wasn't far from his workplace. Entering the building complex he used the elevator and pressed the button for the highest floor where Meru's apartment was situated.

It only took a full minute to arrive, this was an advanced high tech express elevator which allowed for speedy travel between floors, naturally it was much faster than the normal ones.

69th floor, Meru's apartment. Kyle was already outside the door and all he needed to do was to use the card to open it… but he would rather not, he'd only use it if she didn't open the door for him and avoided him. So he proceeded to ring the doorbell.

---

A few minutes before, Inside Meru's apartment :-

Meru was playing her favorite fighting game with a bored expression, if someone who knew her saw this they would no doubt be highly surprised, Meru after all was a true gamer at heart, any and all games were her calling, it had become an essential part of her life and she would never be bored or sad playing games, that's who Hatenko Meru was.

But today, the same Meru felt incomparably bored as she played the game that she loved so dearly, she herself was perplexed with her situation. She wasn't like this. She tried to motivate herself but ultimately failed, for the first time in her life she found games to be dull and boring, like the world usually was around her.

She couldn't concentrate, her character movements were dull, it was unlike her past self where every movement of hers was godly. Sinking thoughts spiralled in her conscience as she watched at the game screen. 'Why am I doing this? Why exactly am I avoiding him? But… if I saw him, that memory of them together would repeat and it aches in my heart when I reminisce about it.'

The light in her eyes slowly but surely started dimming making them glazed, emptiness was now filling her once cheerful and bright eyes full of luster, the whole world was losing its meaning, gaining a black and white, slight tint of greyish hue in her eyes, all she could feel was the emptiness slowly eating away at her conscience.

'No..what am I exactly doing..? No I must change back...no no... please, someone help.' Unknowingly tears began to fall from her eyes, she felt like a little girl, weak and fragile, being drowned by the ruthless world that tried to deny her happiness, her existence, luckily the doorbell rang at that time, temporarily putting a halt to those spiralling dark thoughts of hers.

"Huh? Who is it? I didn't order anything though?" Her dimmed eyes regained some of its luster and she was able to hold onto her being, she sighed in relief and thanked whoever it was that helped her by pressing that doorbell. She was grateful to them for pulling her from that completely hopeless situation.

She unhurriedly stood up from the coach, her gait a bit unsteady as she went and checked who it was outside her apartment, to her surprise and shock it was the person that she had been avoiding for all these days!

'Kyle?! Why is he here?!'

Her heart started beating loudly like the deep rhythming of drums as she realized who it was outside, his abrupt voice broke her out of her stupor. "Meru? Are you there- okay that was a stupid question forget it, hey I know you are there, so open the door."

'W-what should I do?!' She panicked at this moment, she felt like her intelligence dropped by several degrees, she couldn't even form coherent thoughts properly.

"Still not answering? I see.. too bad then.. I'll leave."

'H-huh? He's leaving?' She hurriedly checked to see if he really did leave and he really did!

'Unbelievable!' She thought in despair, but her dark thoughts that were starting to surface were again brought to an end by the abrupt opening of the door without her unlocking it.

"Eh? W-what's happening?" She suddenly remembered that she had given Kyle a spare keycard to open her apartment!

The door slowly opened, a tall figure was outside looking at her with his dead fish like eyes nailing her in place with its menacing stare. "You little... you're seriously avoiding me huh?"

For some reason, she was excited yet afraid at the same time, she replied in quivering a stutter. "N-no way! I didn't, I-it's umm… break? Y-yes! I'm taking a break from school!"

".....Are you taking me for a fool? It's almost exam time yet you're taking a break? If you have a better excuse than spill it already, who knows I might believe it."

"U-ummm...err….N-no..?" She couldn't think of an excuse, she couldn't stay calm, her head was getting dizzy from getting overheated due to the abrupt events that took place in this short amount of time, nobody could believe that the great Hatenko Meru would be reduced to a state like this?

Kyle finally approached her, she didn't dare to run, she didn't want to, she let him grab her hand, she made no protests. She had no idea what he wanted to do to her, but she was prepared for anything and everything as long as the one doing it to her was Kyle; she was sure of it, though she still didn't understand why she was so obsessed with him.

Suddenly something out of her expectations and even wildest imaginations happened, he brought his face close and started sniffing her, it would be a lie if she said she wasn't embarrassed by it but she let him do what he wanted, patiently waiting for him to talk.

"Ewww, Meru….. you smell! You haven't taken a bath for a few days now, right?!"

"KYAAAAHHH!! Don't touch me! Get away!" Her calm visage crumbled. She didn't mean it in a bad light, it was just that she was so embarrassed that if he were to smell her more she would die from the shame! God, she couldn't believe how she could forget to even shower. If she could she would've killed herself then and there, no woman wanted themselves to be called smelly by the person they felt attracted to.

"Why are you shouting?! I'm going to drag you into the bathroom!"

"No! No! I can do it myself! Kyle?! Kyle?!!! Noooo!!"

In the end Kyle didn't listen to her please and continued to drag her to the bathroom.

( `END` )

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